On January 16, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the pan India rollout of COVID-19 vaccination drive. This was the world’s largest vaccination program covering the entire length and breadth of the country.
Putting the unprecedented scale of the vaccination drive in perspective, PM Modi had informed that 3 crore people, which is more than the population of at least 100 countries of the world, will be vaccinated in the first round itself. This scale of vaccination campaign has never been attempted in history and this shows India’s capability, said PM Modi.
Neighbourhood First
As part of its neighbourhood first policy, PM Modi’s government has now extended the unprecedented vaccine drive to cover the immediate neighbourhood countries. The vaccine drive to neighbourhood countries which the PM called ‘Vaccine Maitri’, was started on January 20. This was a ‘gift from the people and government of India’.
India had received several requests for the supply of Indian manufactured vaccines from neighbouring and key partner countries. In response to these requests, and in keeping with India’s stated commitment to use India’s vaccine production and delivery capacity to help all of humanity fight the Covid pandemic, supplies under grant assistance began on January 20 to Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Seychelles.
Immunization programme is being implemented in India, as in other countries, in a phased manner to cover the healthcare providers, frontline workers and the most vulnerable. Keeping in view the domestic requirements of the phased rollout, India will continue to supply COVID-19 vaccines to partner countries over the coming weeks and months in a phased manner the MEA has said. It will ensure that domestic manufacturers will have adequate stocks to meet domestic requirements while supplying abroad.
India is waiting for necessary regulatory clearances from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Mauritius to supply the vaccines to those countries.
Training and Management
Prior to the delivery of vaccines, a training programme, covering administrative and operational aspects, is being conducted by Indian officials on 19-20 January 2021 for immunization managers, cold chain officers, communication officers and data managers of the recipient countries, both at national and provincial levels.
India had earlier supplied hydroxychloroquine, Remdesivir and paracetamol tablets, as well as diagnostic kits, ventilators, masks, gloves and other medical supplies to a large number of countries during the COVID19 pandemic.
India has also provided training to several neighbouring countries to enhance and strengthen their clinical capabilities, under the Partnerships for Accelerating Clinical Trials (PACT) programme. Separately, several training courses have been organized for healthcare workers and administrators of partner countries under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme, sharing our experience in dealing with the pandemic.
The Ministry of External Affairs has said that India will continue to supply countries all over the world with vaccines and this will be calibrated against domestic requirements and international demand and obligations, including under GAVI’s Covax facility to developing countries.
Grateful Neighbours
A press release from the Prime Minister of Bhutan’s office said that the government and the people of Bhutan were immensely grateful to the government and people of India for remembering them at this time. “These will all translate into the prayers and prosperity of the people of India, emanating from the grateful hearts of Bhutan,” he said. “We thank you”, he said.
Receiving the vaccine, Prime Minister Lotay Tshering said it was a gift from a trusted friend, who has been with Bhutan all through the decades and in this pandemic too. “As we celebrate the arrival of vaccine as the new milestone in our battle to beat the pandemic at home, we applaud the gesture that signifies the compassion and generosity of the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, and the people of India for the wellbeing of the humanity,” he said.
PM Lotay Tshering said that the contribution of 150,000 vaccines prepares Bhutan to wage forward to protect the people and heal from the destruction of the pandemic, together with the rest of the world. India has also extended timely and generous support through supply of medicines, medical equipment and personal protective equipment since March last year, he remembered.
President of Maldives Ibrahim Mohamed Solih said that the vaccines from India renews their hopes for a resolution to the Covid 19 crisis soon. “Our heartfelt thanks to PM @narendramodi, government and people of India for this most generous gift”, he tweeted.
Dr. Niranjan B Poojar 
Bhagyashree Gupta 
Balaji Subramanian